Joe Cahill On Business

Even for Elon Musk, visions of "electric sleds" propelling passengers from downtown Chicago to O'Hare Airport at 125 mph through a tunnel seem fanciful.

Nevertheless, Mayor Rahm Emanuel takes the idea seriously enough to have dispatched a top lieutenant to check out Musk's technology in Los Angeles. As my colleague Greg Hinz reported the other day, Deputy Mayor Steven Koch says he came away "intrigued" by the serial entrepreneur's proposal for express rail service between the Loop and O'Hare, a longtime dream of both Emanuel and predecessor Richard M. Daley.

Along with a new propulsion system, Musk says he has a machine that can bore out tunnels faster and cheaper than conventional drilling technology. It's all untested, although Musk has started drilling a tunnel in Los Angeles in hopes of eventually connecting Los Angeles International Airport and Santa Monica.

There are plenty of reasons to scoff. Using unproven technology to build a rail line through densely populated Chicago neighborhoods would add a layer of risk to a massively complex, costly and controversial project.

Still, Emanuel is right to consider Musk's system alongside other options for a badly needed infrastructure enhancement. Express trains between airports and central business districts are becoming hallmarks of global economic centers. London, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Zurich already have them, and North American cities are following suit. Toronto and Denver recently launched airport rail links, and Washington, D.C., expects to begin service to Dulles International Airport in 2020.

In Chicago, though, business travelers and tourists must choose between a Blue Line milk run of unpredictable duration or a cab ride that can cost upwards of $50 and take an hour or more. Uber and Lyft aren't much cheaper and take just as long. The wasted time and expense diminish the economic advantages Chicago derives from O'Hare. What good is a world-class airport with Third World accessibility? "The current situation is not sustainable," says Hani Mahmassani, director of the Northwestern University Transportation Center. "You just don't know how long it will take to get there."

The key is building and operating the line at a cost that will allow it to charge fares people are willing to pay. That's where Musk might help. His tunnel-boring company (self-deprecatingly named the Boring Company) claims to have reduced construction costs by 90 percent. Savings of that magnitude would improve the economics of an airport rail link, perhaps bringing fares in Chicago closer to Denver's rate.

Musk's proposal also signals private-sector interest in building a Loop-O'Hare rail line. That's welcome news for cash-strapped Chicago, which would struggle to finance such an expensive project. Musk has persuaded gilt-edged private investors to bankroll seemingly outlandish ventures such as his Tesla electric car manufacturer and Gigafactory battery affiliate as well as his SpaceX rocketry company. If he were to line up private funding for rapid airport rail service, Chicago would get the benefits without the financial risk. "It's definitely good to see the private sector proposing solutions," says P.S. Sriraj, director of the Urban Transportation Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

And Chicago wouldn't have to take a flier on Musk's system. His Los Angeles tunnel can serve as a demonstration project. Emanuel's crew should watch it carefully to see if the technology works as advertised.

If nothing else, the Musk proposal helps by broadening the discussion beyond traditional approaches. Many new transportation technologies are in the offing, from autonomous vehicles to flying taxis. A city looking to compete as a 21st-century business hub should give them all a closer look.

Recommended for You

Sign up for newsletters

Morning 10

-

Need-to-know stories from Crain's and around the web. Monday-Friday at 7 a.m.

Today's Crain's

-

A roundup of the day's important business news. Monday-Friday around 3 p.m.

Breaking News Alerts

-

Up-to-the-minute info on what's happening in Chicago business right now.

Health Pulse Chicago

-

Your source for actionable, exclusive and inside news and data on the health care industry. Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5:30 a.m.